Paralyzer
by SplendentGoddess
Summary: While traveling just the two of them, an unexpected attack leaves Inuyasha temporarily paralyzed. Can his pride survive having to rely on Kagome for aid? And how will he react to her getting all emotional when running away isn't an option? Inu/Kag WAFF


Blanket Disclaimer:

Inuyasha, and the characters therein, are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions.

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><p>This story takes place during no particular part of the canon, though it is earlier in the mission because they are still searching for jewel shards. I am including the anime and movies into this universe (the first two movies at least, because of the timeframe), and although Kagome doesn't subdue Inuyasha in this story the command in this universe is 'osuwari', so if you see Kagome say 'sit' and nothing happens that wasn't an oversight on my part.<p>

To any of you who might find this particular situation stretching it a bit in terms of believability, you can argue the likelihood of this scenario and how Inuyasha would've really reacted all you want, but one thing is for certain: I've _never _seen this one done before in fanfic. Enjoy!

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~*~*~ Paralyzer ~*~*~

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"Look out, Sango!"

"Hiraikotsu!"

Flinging her weapon into the path of the oni's incoming attack, the giant boomerang successfully diverted the blades of jyaki that had been hurling right for the female taijiya. Getting knocked off course, Sango was unable to immediately retrieve her weapon, but the oni mistakenly believing the disarmed slayer woman to be defenseless was the opening Inuyasha had been waiting for, as he came in from the other side with Tetsusaiga drawn, Miroku easily reaching Sango in time to use his shakoju to produce a barrier around the both of them while their hanyou companion took the distracted oni out in a spectacular display of exploding guts and gore. Kagome was thankfully yanked a safe distance away at the last possible moment by a flying Kirara, which prevented the young miko from needing to be angry with Inuyasha for once again showing no consideration to her proximity before unleashing such an attack. This time around, _he _was the only one to suffer collateral damage. In other words, he was the only one covered in oni guts.

Shippou laughed boisterously at the sight, though the kit knew better than to let Inuyasha anywhere near him for quite a while, quickly running up a tree when the hanyou attempted to catch him and throw him in the muck.

"Oh no…" Sango lamented upon retrieving Hiraikotsu, her tone immediately dampening the fairly lighthearted atmosphere.

Well, as lighthearted as the atmosphere could be while remaining in such close proximity to the exploded remains of a terrifying youkai.

"What ever is the matter, Sango my sweet?" Miroku asked with all of his usual charm, though the twinkle of amusement in his eyes was noticeably dimmed, revealing the true seriousness behind his question.

"It's Hiraikotsu, it's cracked." Sango explained, showing everyone the damage. It was a _very _small hairline crack. Inuyasha was honestly impressed that the slayer had spotted it, considering how poor human vision sometimes was.

"It will have to be repaired before I dare use Hiraikotsu in battle again." the slayer stated matter-of-factly.

Nodding his understanding and agreement, Inuyasha – still splotched with oni remains – said, "Just lemme dunk real quick and then we'll head to your home village so you can do your repairs."

Fortunately, there was a river not too far away. He _had _been able to smell the water from their location prior to his little stunt. But how the hell was he supposed to know that barely cutting into that oni would've made it explode like that? He hadn't even used the Kaze no Kizu!

Inuyasha was just about to head off towards where he remembered the scent of water had been coming from when Shippou's voice from the branches above drew everyone's attention with his cry of, "But what about Kagome's test? If she misses it then she'll have to stay away even longer to take the make-up test!"

Kagome grimaced at the boy's words, biting her lower lip and staring at her feet as she suddenly felt everyone's eyes upon her.

That's right, they _had _been on their way back to Kaede's village, because she had an upcoming test that she needed to go back home for. The only reason she had gotten Inuyasha to agree to let her go home for two days – one day for the test, plus one day beforehand to cram – was because she had explained to them that if she failed this test she would be required by her teacher to take the make-up test, which would mean even more time in her time studying instead of quickly getting it over and done with so that she could return to the past.

This little diversion had been unexpected. That oni had come out of nowhere, demanding her jewel shards, and while it wasn't all that uncommon for the inu-tachi to come across a random youkai or two as they traveled through the forest, those youkai were usually much easier to take down. This guy had actually been pretty strong, and the future-born miko was grateful in that moment for the fact that it hadn't already been in possession of a jewel shard of its own. She couldn't even imagine how much more powerful that would have made it.

Sighing, Kagome shuffled her feet before speaking softly, still unable to meet Inuyasha's gaze.

"I'm sorry about the inconvenience, guys, but I know we have to get Sango-chan's weapon repaired. I guess I'll just have to worry about the make-up test later."

Smiling at her friend, the slayer replied with, "Kagome-chan, there is no true reason for _all _of us to return to my village. I would hate for my misfortune to cause any ill will between you and your Sensei."

"Indeed," Miroku agreed. "Why don't you and Inuyasha continue onward to Kaede-sama's? I shall accompany the lovely Sango to her home village, to ensure that no danger befalls her while her weapon is temporarily out of commission."

"Hmph…" Sango teased good-naturedly. "Then who's going to protect me from _you_, Houshi-sama?"

"Sango, you wound me!"

Snorting, Inuyasha chimed in in that moment with, "You know she _will _wound you, too, if you try anything. But I agree, the fewer days spent off the mission, the better, so you two repairing Hiraikotsu the same time Kagome's in her world is the best way to go."

Said miko shot her friends a grateful smile. She hated the fact that her schoolwork always put everyone out, but this time, it really had worked out in the end since now they wouldn't be able to do any more shard hunting anyway until after Sango's weapon was repaired.

"Awww…" Shippou whined. "That means I'm gonna be stuck at the village by myself with Inuyasha! He's no fun when you're away, Kagome!"

Laughing at the pouting boy, Kagome knelt in his direction and said, "Well, then why don't you accompany Sango-chan and Miroku-sama, instead? I'm sure she would appreciate having a bodyguard to keep an eye out for wandering hands."

Glancing up in the slayer's direction for confirmation, Sango nodded her way before shooting Shippou a welcoming smile, beckoning him with a wave of her hand. "Come on, Shippou. You can ride between Houshi-sama and myself. It _would _be most appreciated."

"I'm so misunderstood…" Miroku grumbled good-naturedly, winking in Sango's direction when he caught her rolling her eyes at him.

"Well, now that that's settled…" Kagome spoke up towards Inuyasha, deliberately waving a hand in front of her nose. "Go wash up, dog-boy, so we can get back on the road. You stink."

So often did he used to tease her about stinking that Kagome was eating up her opportunity to finally reverse their roles.

Rolling his eyes, and taking no offence at the 'dog-boy' comment because he knew it was her retaliation for _his _favorite nickname, Inuyasha made a show of sniffing his armpit before replying with, "Okay, _wench_, wait right here so I don't lose ya."

He was fortunately able to disappear into the thick foliage of the forest before the need to shake his head and sneeze became too overpowering to hold back. Sniffing himself had not been a good idea.

Miroku and Sango waited for a few minutes before making their departure, staying with Kagome until Inuyasha reemerged from the trees, which he did less than five minutes later, his hair and clothing a little damp but not dripping wet. He could shake-dry with the best of them. With each group bidding their friends a temporary farewell, Miroku, Sango and Shippou flew off atop Kirara towards the direction of the old taijiya village, while Inuyasha and Kagome turned and headed back down the path they had all previously been traveling on, heading towards Kaede's village.

The hanyou and miko walked on in companionable silence for several long minutes, neither feeling the need to fill the space with mindless chatter. It was very reminiscent of the old days, and for one moment, Kagome found that she actually missed those days, back when it was just the two of them. She would cherish this brief time alone together with Inuyasha. The hanyou's thoughts were wandering along similar lines, though he focused more on how much stronger Kagome had become, how much more powerful she was now than she used to be. She certainly had come a long way. How long had they been traveling together, really? A few months? It seemed so much longer, not that that was a bad thing. He didn't detest his time spent with Kagome, or at least, not any longer.

They were perhaps a half hour in on their journey when they both felt it, the rapid approach of a dark demonic aura.

"Whatever's coming our way, it has a jewel shard!" the miko declared.

"Stay back, Kagome!" Inuyasha commanded as he drew his sword.

Obeying, that didn't mean the miko planned on remaining defenseless, taking up a stance a good ways behind Inuyasha, but with her bow and arrow at the ready.

"Jeeeewweeeell sssshaaaarrrrdssssss!" the youkai hissed as it broke through the trees, some slimly looking, overgrown amphibian that seemed entirely out of place within the forest.

"Its shard is in its forehead." the miko informed her companion, and Inuyasha didn't hesitate to launch his attack, wanting to get this beast taken care of as quickly as possible while it was only just the two of them.

Instead of dodging his attack, the salamander-type youkai opened its mouth and hissed at the rapidly approaching hanyou, a barrage of youki energy blades coming forth from the creature's mouth that suddenly had _Inuyasha _being the one needing to dodge out of the way. Regrouping, he charged Tetsusaiga for a quick Kaze no Kizu, but the youkai proved to be much more agile than it appeared as it quickly slithered out of the way, Inuyasha's attack taking out a small chunk of forest but nothing more.

"Yooouuuuu hhaaaaavvee jeeeewwwweeeelll sssshhaaaaarrrrddssssss" the youkai rasped as it scurried back towards Kagome's position.

"Not for you!" the miko shouted with no small amount of nervousness in her tone as she quickly fired off a purifying arrow at the approaching youkai.

Sensing the power of the projectile heading towards it, the youkai turned quickly, though it was unable to completely avoid her attack, her arrow grazing its left hind leg, which caused the beast to roar in pain as it turned murderous red eyes back her way.

"Oh no you don't!" Inuyasha shouted suddenly, landing in front of Kagome with Tetsusaiga charged and ready.

"Kagome, shoot another arrow!" the hanyou commanded.

Quickly drawing and notching another arrow, she aimed and fired on instinct, her soul chanting 'Hit the mark!' as Inuyasha unleashed another Kaze no Kizu at the same time.

Knowing it was beat, but not totally defenseless, the youkai chose not to run and instead focused all of its energy into a single attack. Planning on taking its enemies out with it, the youkai spat a blast of jyaki towards the duo that was so powerful, Kagome was overwhelmed by its intensity, momentarily squinting on instinct like getting blinded by the sun.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha shouted, knowing the girl had no chance of avoiding an attack so large, even if she hadn't been temporarily blinded by its brilliance.

Literally throwing himself on top of the girl, Inuyasha covered her with his body just in time to take the brunt of the attack himself. It had originally been his intention to grab Kagome and launch them both up and out of the way, but the attack had been traveling too rapidly for him to have enough time to complete the maneuver. Still, as he felt the blast knock them both over, as he felt his back erupt into burning agony, the quiet "Oomph" from the girl beneath him as their bodies collided with the ground had him exhaling in relief. Kagome was okay.

Just as rapidly as it'd come, the attack was over, and Inuyasha tried to crawl himself off of Kagome but suddenly found that he could barely move. Under less dire circumstances he might have felt embarrassed about lying on top of Kagome so intimately, but as it was, the fact that he _couldn't _get off of her had him much more worried than embarrassed. He didn't even want to know what his back looked like in that moment. He probably would've been cut in half had it not been for his fire-rat suikan absorbing some of the blast. As it was, all he could do was pray that their combined attacks really had taken the monster out, because he was apparently out of commission for at least the next few minutes, probably longer.

_Fuck, what a time for Sango and Miroku to take off! _

Though of course, he knew that Sango wouldn't truly have been much help in this particular battle, anyway, considering she really couldn't use the Hiraikotsu again until after it was repaired. Otherwise, it would only become even more damaged, and even harder to fix in the long run. Miroku also wouldn't have been able to use his Kazaana against the creature since it had been in possession of a jewel shard…crap, the jewel shard! They needed to collect that pronto, but first things first

Finally managing to roll himself onto his side and off of Kagome, Inuyasha gazed in the miko's direction, relief washing through him at the sight of her wide, unblinking eyes glancing around nervously.

"You okay?" he asked her briefly.

"I…I think so." she replied, sitting up slightly. "Are _you _okay?" she asked him then, her voice dripping with concern. She hadn't missed the way it had been an obvious struggle for him to just barely roll over onto his side.

Before he could answer her, they each felt a pulse of energy coming from the pile of youkai remains resting a few feet away.

"Crap, it's already starting to regenerate!"

Instantly reacting at his words, Kagome didn't even take a moment to worry about the potential danger of running right towards the creature as it started pulling itself back together again. She needed to get its jewel shard, and then it would stay dead, simple as that. Inuyasha was obviously down for the count, and so that meant it was up to her. Bow in hand, she jumped to her feet and ran straight towards the jaws of death, literally, as its head reformed enough of itself for the mouth to snap in her direction at her approach. The beast was still very weak, not even the entire head reassembled yet, as the combined attack of her arrow and Inuyasha's Kaze no Kizu had literally blown it to pieces. Even so, little bits and pieces of flesh and gore were flying through the air to rejoin with their host right before her very eyes, so quickly swinging her bow like a golf club, she smacked the creature in the mouth, nodding in satisfaction when her purifying powers again reduced the head to nothing more than a puddle of goo. Quickly, she found the shard and removed it from the gunk, and the youkai's remains sizzled, truly dying as the shard's power was removed.

Turning and heading back in Inuyasha's direction, then, the miko bit her lower lip in worry as she spied the way he observed her with relieved eyes from his position lying prone on the ground, propped up slightly on his elbows to keep her in his sight.

"How badly are you hurt?" she asked him with obvious concern.

Kagome was used to him brushing off even serious injuries as 'just a scratch', so the fact that he hadn't even gotten up yet was really starting to freak her out.

"I…"

Trying to move again and grumbling to himself colorfully at his immediate failure, Inuyasha met Kagome's eyes and confessed regretfully, "I can't feel or move my legs."

Gasping in horror, the miko ran the rest of the way to his position, dropping to her knees beside him. Unable to offer much in the way of a physical protest, Inuyasha didn't bother arguing verbally as Kagome gently rolled him back onto his side. Her heart-wrenching sob had his ears swiveling nervously.

"How bad is it?" he asked her with genuine worry, glancing back at her from over his shoulder. There was no point in denying the severity of his injuries, he decided, when he couldn't even feel his body from the waist down. His back didn't even hurt any more. With the stink of youkai guts in the air he was having a hard time judging just how bad his injuries might be from scent alone, but he knew that Kagome would be honest.

"W-well…" she started shakily, trying to focus on the good news. "Y-you're not really b-bleeding too badly. I'm guessing the heat from the energy attack cauterized your wounds."

Sighing, Inuyasha actually felt relieved to hear that small bit of good news. At least that meant he wasn't _dying_. If he wasn't gushing blood, and he wasn't poisoned, then he knew from personal experience that his body would recuperate, no matter how badly he'd been injured.

"And the bad news?" he asked her then, his tone of voice deceptively neutral.

Sighing herself, Kagome knew there was no way to avoid it, and regretfully admitted, "Your suikan and kosode are completely destroyed, your back is all cut up with missing skin and…" Taking in a shaky breath, the miko finished remorsefully with, "From the looks of things, I'm guessing your spine is severed."

"Fuck…" he cursed quietly.

"Oh, Inuyasha!" Kagome began, crying hysterically. "I'm sooo sorry! This is all my fault!"

"How do you figure?" he asked her, maneuvering himself back onto his butt, propping himself up on his elbows to look her in the eyes.

"Yeah, ya hesitated when that blast blinded you, but because of that I'm guessing you didn't get a chance to see just how freakin' huge it really was. Even if you'd taken off with youkai reflexes, without a youkai's _speed _to go along with it you never woulda been able to dodge it in time." he stated matter-of-factly.

"Still…you're always throwing yourself into the path of danger because of me. If it hadn't been for me and my stupid jewel shards, then that thing never would've attacked us in the first place."

"What's the matter with you?" he asked her, trying to force some humor into his voice despite the direness of the situation. "Here I am for once _not _blaming everything on you, and so suddenly you're gonna do it _for_ me?"

Laughing a little despite herself, Kagome wiped at her eyes before nodding in determination.

"Okay, well…I mean so okay, you'll still heal up from this, right? It's not like you're paralyzed for the rest of your life or anything."

"Hells no!" he agreed. "My body will heal up just fine. It's not like I've never had a broken bone before. Remember when Kouga shattered my arm?" he reminded her, shifting his weight to his left arm so that he could raise and flex his right arm in show. "I was fine in no time."

"Well, we can't just stay out here in the open in the mean time." Kagome said after a moment, pointedly glancing around them to emphasize the fact that they were sitting in the middle of a fairly well used forest trail. Other travelers could theoretically happen upon them at any given moment, and the last thing they needed was to risk running into a hostile group of humans while Inuyasha was temporarily down.

"What do you suggest?" he asked her then, knowing it was a genuine concern, though also knowing that without Kirara, there was no way Kagome could get him all the way to Kaede's village. Besides, he didn't need to be pampered like she always did whenever she forced him to rest in the babaa's hut. He'd probably be just fine come morning. They just needed to hide until then.

"We should at least get you into the shelter of the woods." the miko stated, as if reading his thoughts that getting him to the village was definitely out without the nekomata.

Rising to her feet, Kagome muttered "We also don't want any scavengers drawn to this area…" as she pulled out another arrow and fired it into the melted youkai muck of their ex-attacker, instantly purifying it and the entire area, leaving no trace that there had ever been a salamander-youkai at all. Coming around to stand behind Inuyasha, then, Kagome was just leaning down to hook her hands under his arms when he turned his head to look up at her and snapped, "Whaddya think you're doing?"

"I was going to pull you into the forest…" she stated hesitantly, having thought it was obvious. While a part of her knew she really shouldn't drag him like that, lest she cause even more damage to his spine, it wasn't like she really had many options available.

"Feh! I don't need your help." he snapped indignantly, crossing his arms defiantly.

"But-"

"I'm _fine…_" he grumbled, before rolling himself back over onto his stomach and proceeding to raise himself up on his hands, like doing pushups, before then pulling himself into the forest by himself, legs dragging lifelessly.

She stared after him a moment, mouth agape, before snapping out of it and following along behind him. Because of his demonic upper body strength, Inuyasha really didn't have a problem crawling himself across the ground without the use of his legs, keeping a steady, normal pace. Muttering under his breath about crazy miko wanting to drag him backwards as though he were a corpse, she couldn't help but to smile a bit despite herself at his attitude. It was good that he had such a positive outlook regarding his ability to heal from even this severe of an injury.

A few minutes later, Inuyasha came to a stop at what he felt was probably a safe distance from the trail, having crawled around a large group of trees to prop himself up against one of them from the other side so that any humans walking down the beaten path would most definitely _not_ be able to see him. While he wouldn't admit it out loud, the thought of a group of bandits stumbling upon them while he was down for the count was actually more than a little frightening. Not that he gave two shits about what those bastards might try to do to _him_; he wasn't entirely defenseless, after all. But if a bunch of 'em got their filthy paws on Kagome and started dragging her off… Silently gulping at the terrifying thought, Inuyasha attempted to relax, knowing that so far he could neither hear nor smell any other humans anywhere even remotely near their location. Hopefully it would _stay _that way.

Coming around to kneel before him, also hidden from view of the trail by the large trees, Kagome sat her backpack down beside her and began digging through it.

"Forget it, wench, I don't need bandagin'." the hanyou protested when he caught sight of her pulling out a roll of gauze. "You said so yourself, I ain't bleedin'."

Rolling her eyes, Kagome attempted to keep her tone pleasant as she corrected, "I said you weren't bleeding _too badly_. You still have open wounds back there, pretty nasty ones at that, and you could get an infection."

"I could…" he seemingly conceded, before adding sarcastically, "If I were a weak human."

"If you were a 'weak human' you'd be dead right now." she stated bluntly, and Inuyasha was slightly taken aback by her abrupt tone.

"Kagome…"

Eyes softening, just the tiniest bit, he decided it would be better for him in the long run to just cooperate. After all, she was bound to keep bitching about it if he continued to refuse her, and since he couldn't exactly get up and walk away from her bitching for the time being…

"Fine, wench, whatever. Waste all your supplies if you want to, I won't stop ya."

She offered him a genuine smile as she replied with, "Thank you, Inuyasha." before moving to help him shrug out of his ruined clothing.

_Oh fuck me…_ the hanyou thought in aghast wonder, examining the true extent of the damage to his suikan and kosode as he turned the garments over in his hands while his silent companion worked on cleaning his wounds and wrapping him up.

Fortunately, the fire-rat robe would eventually heal itself, though his undergarment was completely destroyed. He really _would _be dead had he been human. Several times he had saved Kagome's life by tossing her his fire-rat robe, which was stronger than any armor, just, apparently, not stronger than that salamander's shard-enhanced blades of energy. He was beyond relieved that he hadn't somehow thought to merely toss her his suikan in that instant because she wouldn't have survived if he had, though in reality there had barely been enough time to reach her as it was, so tossing _himself _on top of her really had been the only way. At least she had been spared, and in the end, that was all that mattered. He would be fine, eventually.

_This isn't the first time an enemy hasn't been stopped by my fire-rat_, he thought, Sesshoumaru's poisonous hand being shoved through his gut coming to mind.

Still, he didn't even want to _think _about how much more damage his body would've sustained had he _not_ been wearing it.

_I probably really __would__ have been cut in half_…

He was pretty sure that even _he_ wouldn't have been able to survive something like _that_. He was still half human, after all, as loath as he was to admit it at times.

As Kagome silently worked on wrapping his wounds, she couldn't fight off the sting of tears that pricked the backs of her eyes. She had never seen such a severe injury before, or at least not on a person who wasn't screaming bloody murder in the middle of their death throws. There had been a few times when they'd responded to somebody's summons for aid, charging into a village under attack by some youkai or another, that not all of the newest victims had been dead yet at the time of their arrival, and the imagery still gave Kagome the occasional nightmare. She was morbidly grateful for her continued unease around such gruesome scenery, however. The last thing she wanted was to truly find herself getting _used_ to it. The sight of Inuyasha's lower back splayed open would haunt her for some time, she knew, but at least she had the peace of mind from knowing that this time, this victim would be okay. She was momentarily concerned about his posture, the hanyou currently leaning forward to allow her room to work, though she knew he then planned on leaning backwards against the tree again once she was done. Lying flat on his stomach would probably be the best position for him, in all reality, but she wouldn't press the issue. She did recall the time Kouga's shard-enhanced punch had shattered Inuyasha's sword arm, and he had healed properly without issue, without a splint. Something about the youkai body apparently just knew how to heal itself properly, so she honestly wasn't worried about his back being out of alignment after this, or him having any kind of lingering problems for the rest of his life. No, Kagome had every confidence that he would heal completely and be as good as new. What she didn't know, however, was just how long that was really going to take.

_So much for getting home in time for my test…_ she thought with a sigh, reaching up with her right hand to wipe some wayward tears from her cheeks. _Screw__ my test_… she thought then, her only concern being the welfare of the man before her.

"Okay, all done." she said at last, gently assisting Inuyasha with propping himself back up against his chosen tree. She got the distinct impression that he was allowing her to assist him only because he didn't want to deal with upsetting her, but for that small consideration she was grateful.

Going back over to her backpack, Kagome began digging through its contents again, earning a raised eyebrow from her silent companion, not that she noticed.

_Just what is she up to now? _the hanyou wondered.

He had his answer when she pulled out a bottle of water and some of those little pills from her time that he knew were for dealing with pain. Meeting his eyes, Kagome said, "I'm going to assume from the way you didn't so much as flinch that you're not in any pain right now, right?"

He nodded slowly, not sure he liked where she was going.

"That'll change once your nerves start healing, so as soon as you feel like you need some of these pills, _please_ let me know. I know you like to act all tough and ignore any pain you might be in, but it's just the two of us…you don't have to put up your brave front around me."

Inuyasha didn't know whether to feel touched or insulted, so he settled for answering with, "Fine, if I _need _'em I'll let ya know." emphasizing the word 'need' because in his mind, there was no way he would ever 'need' those stupid pills.

Accepting that that was as good of an answer as she was going to get, Kagome sat the pills and water aside, grabbing her bow and arrows before propping herself up against a neighboring tree. There was nothing to do now but wait it out. She supposed it would be logical to spend the time reading in one of her schoolbooks, but she knew there was really no way she would be able to concentrate on any of her lessons right now, and she also didn't want to risk Inuyasha thinking she wasn't even really that concerned over him, if she could look at this as an opportunity to get some schoolwork done. Honestly, it was the exact opposite. There was no _way _she could focus on her studies with him this badly injured. She wouldn't be able to stop worrying about him until he started to show signs of healing. Besides, she couldn't afford to get distracted with doing schoolwork when she had to stay focused on their surroundings. Knowing she was their only line of defense while he was immobile, Kagome notched an arrow in her bow before relaxing her arms, laying the weapon smoothly across her lap. She would do her best to meditate as Miroku had shown her how to do, opening her mind's eye to the world around them. She couldn't risk letting anything sneak up on them, especially since her jewel shards were bound to attract more unwanted attention.

Inuyasha's heart warmed at the sight of Kagome taking up a position beside him, bow and arrow at the ready as she focused on her surroundings like a true miko. For once, comparing her to Kikyou didn't even come to mind. Instead, the hanyou merely thought again about how Kagome had truly come such a long way, coming into herself. Grabbing his legs and folding them into his traditional cross-legged position, Inuyasha rested Tetsusaiga against his shoulder, trying to ignore how incredibly unsettling it was to be numb from the waist down. Aside from the fact that he was presently topless with bandages wrapped around his middle, nobody would suspect that there was anything wrong from his façade. Internally, however, he was a nervous wreck. How long would it take for his back to heal, really? What if something found them before he recovered? What if he couldn't protect Kagome? Then of course, on top of those concerns, there were deeper, more emotionally based worries. Would Kagome still see him the same way after this? What if she no longer respected his strength? What if she thought him an unfit protector? Of course, the more logical part of his mind tried to reassure him that Kagome would never think ill of him for receiving an injury in battle, especially since he had acquired his current condition while protecting _her_. She felt responsible, remorseful and guilty, but she certainly didn't think _less_ of him. Still…the quicker he could recover, the better.

He also wondered about their other friends, and how long it would take for them to realize that something had happened. It would probably take them at least another hour to reach the slayer's village, and then probably a full day's time to repair Hiraikotsu, taking them into the following afternoon. If it were late enough, they would probably hold off travel until the following morning, which meant they wouldn't arrive at Kaede's for at least two days. Once Sango and Miroku learned that he and Kagome had never arrived they were sure to backtrack along the forest trail they had been traveling down, and Kirara and Shippou would undoubtedly be able to pick up their scents from where they had veered off into the woods, so their friends would probably be able to find them without too much difficulty, but not for at least three days. Would he be recovered by then? He sure hoped so, although to be honest, the hanyou knew that his previous hope of being just fine come morning was unrealistic, given the true severity of his injures. It usually took his body at least two days to completely heal from more serious injuries, so the timeframe of three days was probably pushing it all things considered, but then of course, he didn't needto be _completely _healed by then. Just so long as he could walk again, that was all that really mattered. He really didn't want their friends finding him still paralyzed in the forest. It was bad enough that Kagome had bore witness to him being so vulnerable, though he knew that the girl would never betray his secret. Just exactly what his secret _was_, he wasn't sure. Had he truly thought himself indestructible? But as Kagome herself had pointed out, he would be dead right now had he been human. So even as he had to accept the fact that, as a hanyou, he was more vulnerable to human-like weaknesses than a pureblooded youkai would ever be, it was still thanks to his youkai half that he had survived at all. Although he had promised Kagome that he would stay a hanyou for a while longer, for her, a part of him still longed to become a full-fledged youkai one day, but at least he could easily concede that being hanyou was better than being human.

And he had been willing to become a human, once upon a time…

Shuddering at the thought, Inuyasha sighed in relief. While a part of him would never forgive himself for what had happened to Kikyou, looking back on it, he couldn't honestly say that he still wished they had successfully turned him human with the jewel. Especially not knowing what he now knew of Naraku's existence and origins. Using the jewel to turn him human wouldn't have done anything to prevent the birth of Naraku, after all. He hadn't even _known _of the bandit Onigumo at that time, and surely Onigumo hadn't known of their plans for the jewel while he'd lain dying in that cave. It wasn't until after he'd been reborn as Naraku that he'd learned through his youkai and observation what their plans were, using those plans to manipulate them both as he had. Had the dark hanyou's timing been off, had Inuyasha and Kikyou met as scheduled and used the jewel according to plan, Naraku surely would have shown himself not long after, as angry as all get-out that his own planning and scheming hadn't come to fruition. And gulping, Inuyasha knew he would've been in no position to fight Naraku off as a mere human. The dark hanyou would've surely still killed Kikyou, and himself along with her, meaning he wouldn't then be alive now to seek their revenge, to avenge Kikyou and take Naraku out once and for all. Their killer would've roamed free, possibly even with the jewel in his possession, should turning him human not have purified the jewel out of existence as Kikyou had believed it would. Either way, with the jewel gone or in Naraku's grasp, that would have obviously meant that it wouldn't have been burned with Kikyou's body, which of course meant that Kagome never would've been born with the jewel inside _her_ body, and as such she would've never been able to travel backward in time to correct the mistakes of her past-self. Of course, that's assuming Kagome would've even still been born at all. With Naraku permitted free reign over the land, who knew _what_ the future would've held, or even if there would've still _been _a future at all?

Miroku was always yammering on about how all things in life happened for a reason. The houshi had told him on more than one occasion that it was his belief that he and Kikyou had simply not been meant to be, because otherwise, they would've been together. Could that be true? Was it really so simple? Then did that also mean that Kagome was _meant _to fall into their world? But if you followed that path of logic to its extreme, then that also meant that _he _was meant to get paralyzed by that youkai's attack just now. How stupid was _that?_

He needed something to distract himself.

"Oi, Kagome…" Inuyasha started suddenly, glancing the miko's way to see her open her eyes in surprise before turning to meet his gaze with her own. "How 'bout makin' a fire and fixin' some ramen?" Thinking to play on her sympathies so that his request wouldn't piss her off, he added, "I need to keep my strength up if I'm gonna recover properly, right?"

Initially startled only because she hadn't been expecting his voice to suddenly ring through the silence between them, Kagome smiled a little at Inuyasha's words. The old him would've just demanded that she fix him some ramen and been done with it. That he was attempting to appease her nurturing side touched a part of her heart, but regretfully, the miko shook her head in the negative in that moment, answering with, "I'm sorry if you're hungry, but I would advise against eating for the time being. Yes, on the surface I can see the argument of your body needing food to better heal itself, except of course for the fact that while you're digesting, that's energy taken _away _from your healing to be spent on other things, but more important than that, if you eat, then eventually you'll need to…"

Letting her words trail off, Kagome was unsure of how to phrase her concerns in a delicate enough manner so as not to seem insulting, although knowing Inuyasha, it was the delicateness itself that would probably insult him the most in the long run, as if she were afraid to say anything outright in his presence. Fortunately, he seemed to get the gist of what she was saying without her needing to elaborate, his eyes widening in belated realization as a light pink hue dusted his cheeks.

"Never mind, then." he stated abruptly, turning his head to look in the other direction.

Trying to think of something to lighten the mood, Kagome attempted to strike up a conversation in that moment about Miroku and Sango. She even suggested with a laugh that if he cared to, they could even place a wager on how many times Miroku would attempt to grope Sango throughout the duration of their time together, knowing that Shippou was probably keeping score and would certainly relay an honest tally. But Inuyasha was not in the mood for mindless chitchat and games, and he let her know as much when he grumbled rather darkly that he would appreciate peace and quiet for the time being.

Momentarily taken aback, but then sighing in understanding, Kagome went back to her silent vigil then, knowing she couldn't truly blame the guy for being in a bad mood, all things considered. The miko attempted to get back into the zone, as it were, with her meditation, but after roughly around an hour or so she found that she just couldn't take any more sitting still. Climbing to her feet, she cast her eyes in Inuyasha's direction. The hanyou appeared to be asleep, his head bent forward slightly with his eyes closed, though she knew better. The way his ears flicked and turned at her movements, Kagome knew that he was awake and aware of her every step. Still, she said nothing.

Going about gathering some small pieces of firewood from their immediate location, Kagome then set to work gathering some nearby stones, before digging out and lining a small pit in which to build a campfire. Just because she didn't plan on cooking anything for dinner that night didn't mean they shouldn't have a fire at all. She was human, after all, and she would need the light of a fire to see by come nightfall. Besides, it wasn't like they had to worry about the fire luring a youkai to their location – her jewel shards were perfectly capable of doing _that _all on their own – and a fire would also actually help to ward _off_ non-demonic predators, so that was an added bonus. Granted, there was the miniscule concern of its glow attracting traveling human bandits, but they were a very good distance away from the trail now, and Inuyasha would undoubtedly be able to hear the presence of any approaching human travelers long before they got close enough to see the glow of their fire. She had an extra bottle of water in her backpack, so she would have it out and ready on the off chance that he suddenly told her in a commanding whisper to douse their flame.

Inuyasha remained silent as the miko continued in her task, until a sudden groan, almost too quiet for her to hear, slipped past his lips unbidden. Instantly, she was kneeling before him, and he was blinking into a pair of concerned, chocolate eyes.

"When did you start feeling pain?" Kagome asked him point blank, not bothering to go through the song and dance of asking him _if _he was in any pain.

_Since when can she read me so fucking well? _

"Dunno…" he replied as casually as he could, "Few minutes ago."

"And just when were you planning on letting me know?"

The way Inuyasha turned his head away, his face hard, instantly gave Kagome her answer. He hadn't been planning on letting her know at all. Well that was just too damn bad. Still, she didn't have the heart to strip the man of what was left of his pride. She cared about him far too much to so ruthlessly humiliate him.

Backing up a few paces, then, so that he wouldn't feel quite so crowded, Kagome kept her voice calm as she said, "All right…I know you're tough, and that you can handle a heck of a lot worse pain than _I _can, so if you really don't think you need any pain killers, I won't force you to take any. I just don't want you to _suffer_, so if it truly gets beyond your threshold, I promise I won't think any less of you if you ask me for some of those pills. Sometimes, the greatest strength is admitting our limitations."

That said, she turned around and returned her focus to their baby campfire, which had nearly been lost in its momentary neglect. She had been able to start the blaze without too much difficulty thanks to her matches, but keeping it going was another matter entirely. Still, it was a ballet she would like to say she'd mastered over her months spent traveling in the Sengoku jidai. True to form, it was only a few minutes later that they had a healthy, roaring fire.

Staring into the hypnotic dance of the flames, Inuyasha once again found himself lost in thought. Maybe she was right…maybe there _was _a type of strength to be found in possessing the ability to admit to one's own weaknesses. Thinking again on how long it just might take his body to fully recover, Inuyasha found that he no longer fretted over the notion of their other friends seeing him like this. If Kagome didn't think any less of him, then neither would the others, he realized slowly. They'd all had their fair share of injuries at some point or another, after all. Still, his calculations were most likely accurate in that the monk and slayer wouldn't find them for at least three days, and he wasn't exactly keen on the idea of he and Kagome being holed up in this little pocket of forest for that long, especially with her as their only real line of defense. She was only human, after all. So he most certainly still prayed for a speedy recovery, because obviously, the sooner he was up again, the better. However, in three days' time, if he were not yet mobile by that time, he would then pray for their friends to rescue them, pride be damned. The most important thing was Kagome's safety, after all, and while it was just the two of them in this lonely section of forest, Kagome was not safe. Faced with having to choose between his pride and what was best for Kagome, that was a no brainer, because ultimately, how much pride could he honestly find within himself by choosing the path that was more risky to her safety? Of course, it wasn't really like he _had_ a choice, he would either recover before the others found them or he wouldn't, but it was solely with thoughts of needing to keep Kagome safe that he ordered his body to heal itself as quickly as possible. He didn't care about being embarrassed any more. Relying on Kagome as their only line of defense didn't embarrass him, it _frightened _him, and not because he didn't trust her skills, but because he would always worry about her safety, no matter what.

Sighing quietly, he knew worrying wouldn't do him any good, though. He just needed to keep himself focused on the world around them so that at least nothing would be able to get the drop on them unannounced.

The hours ticked by at a relatively slow pace, late afternoon morphing into evening, before evening then made way for twilight. Kagome kept herself occupied by tending to their fire, often finding herself getting lost in its dance for several minutes at a time before it dawned on her that the light was fading and she once again added more wood. A few times Inuyasha groaned or grunted loud enough for her to hear, though she knew it had not been deliberate when every time she glanced his way he appeared completely at ease, avoiding her gaze as though he merely had his mind on other things. She imagined that that was true, at least in part, and wondered just what her silent companion had spent the last few hours thinking about, though she knew it was none of her business.

So it came as a surprise to Kagome when, immediately following a light rumble from her stomach, Inuyasha was again the one to break the silence between them by stating out of the blue, "You don't gotta starve yourself just 'cause I can't eat nothin'."

"That hardly seems fair, don't you think?" Kagome replied, looking his way. "Besides, I'm not hungry."

"Heh, liar." he commented, smirking a bit as her stomach chose that precise moment to rumble again.

Relaxing at the sight of his smirking grin, Kagome braved asking, "How are you feeling?"

His grin was immediately replaced with a stoic mask as he answered with a clipped, "I'm fine."

The hopeful light in Kagome's eyes immediately dulled at his reply, unmistakable sadness creeping into her scent.

_Damn girl, doesn't she know it ain't personal? It's fucking hard to let __anyone__ inside_… he mentally grumbled, quickly realizing she felt rejected at his continued refusal to 'lower his wall' around her. As if he really just didn't want to share such things with _her_, personally. If ever there was going to be someone he _could _be completely open and honest with, he didn't imagine that it could ever be anyone other than the miko currently sitting by his side.

Audibly sighing, then, Inuyasha surprised Kagome for the second time in as many minutes by suddenly answering her question much more honestly.

"I really do feel okay, though that's probably just 'cause I can't feel much of anything, yet. My back's all tingly, and sometimes I get a sharp pain, which is when I know ya hear me grumblin' about it, I can't help it. But really, it ain't that bad, and as quick as it comes it's gone again, like now. Now it don't hurt, really, just aches dully and tingles."

"Well, that's definitely a good sign." Kagome stated with a sigh of relief. "Probably each brief stab of pain is a new nerve ending firing for the first time as it connects itself along your central nervous system."

Inuyasha just blinked at her.

Kagome giggled a little then, waving off his growing frown while feeling mildly embarrassed for using terminology she should've known he wouldn't understand. The miko then proceeded to give a brief biology lesson, schooling the hanyou on just what, exactly, the central nervous system was, and why we felt pain to begin with.

He still could not feel, or control his legs, so there was definitely a long ways to go in his recovery, but both the hanyou and miko were optimistic that he would be up and about before too much longer.

Still refusing to eat in front of him, Kagome proceeded to ignore her mild hunger, getting back into her meditative posture with her bow and notched arrow resting across her lap. With her eyes currently closed as they were, she was unaware of her companion's eyes as they studied her for a moment longer before finally looking away.

Shaking his head in amazement of the girl, Inuyasha left her to her own devices for the time being, honing his own senses back into the world around them as well. He prayed that the various creatures of the night would grant them the small blessing of leaving them alone for now, though on the off chance that something _did _try to get the drop on them he would make sure he gave Kagome as much warning as possible. Revisiting his embarrassment for a moment, he could admit at least to himself that it was more than a little awkward, the knowledge that this slip of a woman from the future was his main line of defense for the time being, but if ever he had to trust his care to the hands of someone else, it would be Kagome. That he was in his current condition with _her _made it bearable. It was more than a little humbling to know how strongly she actually cared for him, what she was willing to do for him, but he couldn't say he didn't appreciate, or return her feelings. Absentmindedly fingering the locket he still wore, the thin gold chain seeming so fragile in comparison to the kotodama beads also around his neck, Inuyasha was mildly amazed that he hadn't broken or lost the damn thing yet, though he had no plans of taking it off. He still remembered their run-in with that false lunar goddess, and how Kagome had unthinkingly thrown herself in front of an arrow for him. 'Returning the favor' she'd called it. He snorted. Never again would Kagome be forced to take a hit meant for him, he would make sure of it.

Of course, it didn't take long for his thoughts to drift into the direction of that kiss, and subsequently how much of an ass he'd been to her afterwards, though he was pretty sure Kagome knew not to take anything he said in self-defense around the bouzu too seriously. Spewing hurtful things out of his mouth was one of his oldest defense mechanisms, and he'd been embarrassed by Miroku's taunting, but he knew Kagome knew that he'd been his hanyou self again when he had returned her kiss. He hadn't still been lost to his transformation, and he hadn't been thinking of Kikyou, either. But even though he was a man of little action and even fewer words, at least when it came to expressing those types of feelings, there were a _few _things he could do to let Kagome know how he really felt, and keeping the necklace she'd given him as a present was one of them. She hadn't said anything about it, either, since their ordeal with Kaguya, but he hadn't missed the way her eyes had lit up briefly at the sight of the locket earlier that afternoon when she'd helped him shrug out of his robes.

He was pulled from his musings by the way the miko in question started bobbing her head in that moment, jerking herself back awake with a shake of her head before releasing a tongue-curling yawn and readjusting her position.

"Get some sleep, Kagome." he instructed gently at the sight.

Poking their fire lazily, she tried to protest, opening her mouth to state that she wasn't tired, though her words were cut off with another yawn.

"Mm-mm…" she responded in the negative then, shaking the sleep from her head for the fifth or sixth time.

Inuyasha had lost count of the number of times she had started to nod off, only to jolt herself back awake again. It was a stalemate he knew she couldn't maintain forever.

"Look," he stated, "I don't plan on falling asleep tonight, but I don't _need _to sleep every night. You do. I'll be awake and alert, so get some sleep. If even the slightest thing feels off I'll wake ya up, all right?"

Feeling too tired to truly put up an argument, and also knowing there were enough embers in their campfire by that point that even if the flame died down it could be revived again easily enough, Kagome eventually conceded, rolling out her sleeping bag.

"Okay…you better wake me up if _anything _feels off. My reflexes aren't as fast as yours, so I would appreciate having more time to adjust and react if something starts approaching us."

"Keh…don't worry, wench. Like I would wanna risk my own hide by letting you sleep in if things're gonna get dangerous."

"Just so long as we're clear, dog-boy."

Giving a soft snort of a laugh, Inuyasha replied with, "Goodnight, wench."

"Goodnight, dog-boy."

Shaking his head in amusement, Inuyasha watched with caring eyes as Kagome settled herself down for the evening. He still remembered the first time she'd called him 'dog-boy', in retaliation during the heat of an argument when she had been demanding that he stop calling her 'wench'. He had been attempting to explain how 'wench' wasn't meant as an insult. It wasn't like when he used to call her a _bitch_, which he _had _meant as an insult, knowing full well what the term meant for human women despite the coincidental canine connotations he supposed he could've tried to exploit in his defense. But Kagome had surprised him then by stating that she knew that 'wench' wasn't an insulting term, in and of itself. The greatest insult, in the 21_"You may as well call me 'ningen' if you just want to refer to me by __what__ I am." _she had snapped. _"It would insult you to high heaven if I started calling you __hanyou__, wouldn't it?" _she'd asked, and he'd been taken aback by her harsh tone. Immediately, he had remembered his early days with Kikyou, and how she'd used to call him 'hanyou' until the day he'd surprised himself by demanding she stop referring to him as such, and she'd surprised him in turn by asking for his name. Thinking back on the exchange, he'd found then that he could actually understand where Kagome was coming from.

Not that that meant he'd been ready to concede defeat, of course.

"_If I called you 'ningen' then you could call me 'hanyou', but calling you 'wench' is different, wench!" _he'd shouted, thinking he'd won. That's when it'd happened.

"_All right, dog-boy, you win! No names it is!" _

He'd been taken aback, to say the least, blinking in surprise at the miko, and she had immediately shrunk back within herself at his incredulous stare, afraid she had truly insulted him. Kagome had never thought of him differently based on his half youkai status, and the last thing she'd wanted to do was allow him to think that she honestly had a problem with him being half inu-youkai. But instead of getting insulted, he'd laughed, probably because of her panicked face immediately after saying the term. He'd known damn well by that point that she didn't think less of him for his mixed blood. They'd had Shippou with them by that point, and if she could accept a runt who was _full _youkai, then there was no way she had a problem with him being only half.

"_Okay, Kagome, __you__ win…I'll try to stick to your name, but I guess it's only fair that if I call you by anything else, that you get a nickname for me as well." _

She had been shocked to say the least; he had basically given her permission to call him 'dog-boy' whenever he called her a wench. Of course, as time went on, she grew less and less insulted by his chosen 'nickname' for her, and it became more of a bizarre, twisted term of endearment than anything else. Now they teased each other with the names, and it was one display of affection that was mild enough that he didn't even mind showing it in front of the others. The first time Miroku and Sango had heard them sling the supposed insults at each other they had both cringed, believing a fight would soon break out, though it never came. It hadn't been explained to them _why_ he and Kagome were the only ones who could call each other by such names and get away with it, but it was easy enough for them to see that he and the miko had a unique type of friendship.

Thinking about his relationship with Kagome in that moment, Inuyasha found himself sighing in frustration. Yes, Kagome was his friend. The truest friend he'd ever had. But he would be lying if he said he really wanted her as _only_ just a friend, and he knew she felt the same way. Things were just too complicated right now. What with the jewel shards still out there, Naraku still out there, not to mention his obligations to Kikyou… Hopefully, one day, he'd be able to tell Kagome straight out that he returned her feelings, instead of leaving her to assume and hope as she currently did.

Said miko pulled Inuyasha's thoughts back into the present about an hour after going to bed as she began moaning and writhing in her sleep…and not the _good _kind of moaning and writhing. He blushed just thinking about it. It was rare, but he knew whenever Kagome had one of _those _types of dreams. He did good never to mention a hint of it the following morning, figuring the miko didn't realize how…verbal…she could sometimes be in her sleep, but he could hardly fault her for the unconscious fantasies when he had the occasional wet dream himself. At least he knew he wasn't alone in his secret attraction and desires, his own name having escaped the miko's lips enough times during those particular nights to have given him his own problem that had required 'taking care of' before dawn. But as his name leaked passed those same lips in that moment, a distinctive twinge of terror in her voice rather than passion, Inuyasha knew he couldn't allow her nightmare to continue.

"Oi, Kagome, wake up." he said gruffly, hoping that calling out to her would be enough when a brief experiment revealed that he still could not move his legs. "Oi, wench!"

Kagome woke with a start, bolting upright into a sitting position with her hand on her heart, glancing around their camp frantically.

"Calm down…" Inuyasha said immediately, "It was just a bad dream, ain't nothing out there."

Relaxing slightly at his words, Kagome silently inched her way over to the amber glow of their campfire's remains, tossing in some more tinder which quickly ignited, as she worked on building the dying flame back up into full strength. Inuyasha's heart panged in his chest at the sight of her, clearly shaken up over whatever she'd just dreamt of, though she probably figured he didn't want to hear about it. Honestly, he wasn't so sure he _did _want to hear about it, but it was clear to him that Kagome was deeply troubled. He waited until after she brought their fire back to life to call her name.

"Kagome…" he said softly, smiling gently when she hesitantly glanced his way.

"Come'ere." he mumbled, opening his arms in invitation.

She stared at him in surprise for a moment, completely caught off guard by such an unexpected gesture from him, but then, when the look in his eyes only grew more expectant as he kept his arms raised, she gave in to his offer. Instantly, she was by his side, clinging to him desperately as she cried against his shoulder, his arms wrapped around her for support. It took the distraught miko a few moments to realize that Inuyasha was still topless, that it was his _bare _chest and shoulder she was leaning against, and flushing in embarrassment she tried to pull away, but his arms around her only tightened in response, holding her to him all the more fiercely.

"Screw propriety…" she heard him mutter into her hair, the hanyou having easily figured out the reason for her sudden attempt at retreat based on the twinge of embarrassment in her scent. Brushing a hand through her hair, an action that had the miko's heart stilling in her chest as she dared not question whether the sensation was imagined, Kagome then heard Inuyasha's quiet plea of, "Tell me what you saw."

Sniffling, it took a moment, but the miko eventually confessed to him her nightmare, a reenactment of their battle with the salamander-youkai. She saw him dead in her dream, his back splayed open no differently from how it truly had been, only this time a large puddle of blood had surrounded his motionless body.

Tightening his arms around her even more, Inuyasha assured her gently, "I'm a lot harder to kill than most people think."

"So I've learned." she replied, and he felt a stab of guilt at the comment, Kagome clearly referring to the large number of times in which he'd been gravely injured since their mission had started.

Slowly releasing his hold on her then, Inuyasha lightly brushed her hair back from her eyes, allowing himself the brief moment of tenderness because the two of them were alone. Still, he couldn't go getting _too _mushy on the girl. Putting on his best confident smirk after a moment, he instructed her lightly, "Go back to bed, wench. I'm fine, and you need your rest."

Shaking her head in refusal, Kagome insisted, "There's no way I'll be able to fall back asleep after that, and besides…"

Leaving the words unsaid, Inuyasha understood what Kagome didn't want to admit aloud; she was afraid another nightmare would find her if she dared go back to sleep.

"Great…" he muttered in what he thought was obviously a teasing tone of voice. "That means I gotta entertain your ass."

He expected her to playfully humph in indignation while crossing her arms, not take his words completely to heart, as she slouched with a dejected look in her eyes before replying with, "I don't want to bother you, if you wanted peace and quiet right now."

Sighing, Inuyasha knew that while he honestly _would _prefer silence, that was only if the woman beside him was feeling okay, enjoying the silence with him. With Kagome in her current frame of mind there was no way he could ignore her completely, and while he would usually slip it to Sango that something was bothering the miko so that the taijiya could pick Kagome's brain in the way that only girls could do with each other, that obviously wasn't an option right now.

"Look…" he started then. "I ain't that good at talkin', but…well I clearly ain't going nowhere, so if you need somebody to _listen_…I won't cup my ears and go 'la la la' if there was somethin' you wanted to talk about."

Giggling a little despite herself at his words, Kagome met his gaze with a look of gratitude, and while a part of her wanted to shake it off and insist that she was just fine, her own statement about admitting one's weakness being a form of strength wouldn't let her lie to him. She couldn't tell him she was fine when they both knew she wasn't.

"I just…worry sometimes." she confessed softly then, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. "I know you're strong, I know you can take care of yourself, but I just can't help worrying anyway. I know you care about _my_ safety…" she stated quietly, letting her words pause for a moment as if expecting him to snort and deny her claim, although such a retort never came. She smiled at his silent admittance, and added, "And well, I care about your own safety the same way."

"I…" he started, unsure of what to say as he licked his suddenly very dry lips. "I didn't mean to worry you." he settled upon after a moment, his cheeks warming under the scrutiny of her gaze. "It's not like I _want _to get all bashed up, but if me takin' the brunt of it means that you're protected, then I'll do whatever I gotta do to keep you safe."

Kagome smiled at his words for a moment before her grin slowly turned into a frown.

"I just hate that I always seem to put you into such a position."

"Wench…" he started in warning, his tone frustrated. "I told you, _this _time it wasn't your fault. So knock that shit off already. Believe me, when you're to blame you'll hear it from me, so there ain't no need for you to go beating yourself up over it when I _ain't_."

Giggling a bit despite herself, Kagome waved her hand in the air as if to acknowledge his words and finally let that subject drop.

"All right, all right, you've made your point…" Thinking about it for a second, she added, "Dog-boy."

Shaking his head in mild amusement, Inuyasha laughed despite himself, before his eyes suddenly opened wide in horror, his mirth gone in an instant.

"What?" she whispered frantically at his change in demeanor, scanning her eyes around their position despite her inability to see anything beyond their isolated spot in the woods.

"N-nothin'…" he muttered quickly, his tone embarrassed.

Confused and curious, Kagome turned her eyes back to Inuyasha's face, instantly noting his dark blush, though he refused to meet her eyes.

Reaching forward, she gently rested her hand on his knee, and noticing the way he didn't seem to acknowledge her touch at all, she quickly realized his legs must still be numb as she then reached for his arm instead.

He flinched a bit at her touch then, jumping a little in his seat as her hand gently cupping his arm successfully startled him. He'd been too busy berating his weak body to pay any attention to what she was doing.

He still couldn't feel anything from the waist down, even after several hours, which was more than a little unsettling in and of itself, but what he had suddenly _smelled _upon laughing a little was even more unsettling. He had been able to feel, off and on, some mild pressure and discomfort from within his body, like in and around his guts. He could feel that he was hungry, for example, so signals from his _stomach _were definitely reaching his brain, and so he'd presumed that all of his guts were working properly. He remembered some of what Kagome had told him about how signals traveled up and down the spine to the brain, which was why with that bone being broken he couldn't even flex the muscles in his legs or feel the skin or anything at all, but he simply hadn't thought about that disconnection including his eternal organs, specifically his bladder.

When Kagome had tactfully warned him earlier that he would want to avoid eating, lest he have to relieve himself at some point afterwards, he'd still only been thinking about the inconvenience factor of needing to figure out how to take a shit in his current condition. He'd been focusing on the logistics of it all, of how he was supposed to dress and undress himself and crawl around to somewhere private and do his business all without the use of his legs. Otherwise he would have to hold it and be miserable, and so obviously choosing not to eat for the time being was the wisest option. He hadn't really considered that he would have to _pee _at some point, especially without having recently drunk anything. He could hold that too if need be, or so he'd thought, having figured that if the need to urinate got _too _strong he'd just drag his ass around to the other side of the tree or at the very least have Kagome avert her eyes. At least it would be easier to handle on his own than taking a crap. He had been able to feel off and on that he'd needed to go, but the sensation hadn't been that bad, and since he could easily feel how hungry he was he'd thought the signals from his bladder were working properly, too. Now, though, his nose was telling him that not only had he had to pee worse than he'd thought, but now he no longer did. He couldn't feel it, so he didn't know how bad it was, but fortunately with the way he was sitting the front of his hakama had been pulled taught and away from his fundoshi, so at least there was no visual evidence. He would dry, and being hanyou he wouldn't get a rash; Kagome didn't have to know.

But with the way she was staring at him in concern he feared she'd figure it out before too much longer, especially since he knew a human's sense of smell wasn't _that _weak.

"What're ya hoverin' over me for, wench?" he grumbled then, shaking the arm she held in the hope that she'd scoot back a bit at his harsh dismissal.

Releasing his arm, Kagome was too concerned to take offense at his sudden change in demeanor. She couldn't stop worrying that something was wrong, that something had happened. Why had he gotten such a panicked face all of a sudden? And why was he refusing to meet her eyes? It wasn't so much his bitter attitude that she found hurtful as it was the knowledge that his bitterness was a mask for his insecurity, because he was afraid to let her in. And here she'd thought they'd actually made a little progress with regard to their relationship, what with him offering her his embrace just a few short minutes ago, as he'd comforted her after her nightmare. Mentally sighing, she took a deep breath, intent on getting to the bottom of whatever was troubling him, but as a certain and instantly recognizable acrid scent hit her nose, it was suddenly Kagome's eyes that opened wide in both surprise and understanding.

"Oh, Inuyasha…" she murmured in sympathy, cringing as he shot her a hardened glare that did nothing to mask how humiliated he clearly was. She was sure the _last _thing he wanted was for her to feel sorry for him.

Instantly, her mind kicked over into nurse mode, refusing to find any embarrassment, or humor, in the present situation.

"Here…" she murmured tenderly then, reaching for the ties of his hakama.

His eyes opened wide in shock and horror.

"Wh-what are you doing?"

"Inuyasha, this is me we're talking about. Do you honestly expect me to just let you sit in your own mess?"

"Do you honestly expect me to just let you undress me?" he countered, reaching for the ties to his hakama himself to bat her hands away and hold his pants closed.

Kagome couldn't help blushing at his words, though she felt it best to point out, "It isn't anything I haven't seen before."

"Th-that's not the point!" he stuttered, his face flaming anew at her brazen reminder of the couple of times she'd seen him naked in the past.

"Inuyasha, if our situations were reversed, and you were the only one who could help _me _with this, I would not only let you, I would want you to."

He snorted at that.

"If our situations were reversed I would've been able to get you back to the babaa so that _she_ could tend to you."

"It was just hypothetical…" Kagome argued, rolling her eyes. "Well never mind," she added then, "Our situations are _not _reversed, and _you _are the one who needs _my _help."

"I don't need your help!"

Groaning in frustration, Kagome shot to her feet, pacing around their isolated section of forest for a second while attempting to calm down. Normally her first instinct in such a situation would be to _osuwari _him, but that would obviously be a very foolish, cruel, and possibly detrimental thing to do at the moment.

Inuyasha sighed at the sight of her stomping around, her hands opening and closing at her sides. Taking a deep breath with the intent of calming his own frazzled nerves, he immediately sneezed as the pungent scent of his own urine stung his nose. Kagome glanced his way with knowing eyes before plopping herself down a few feet away, poking at their fire, and he took advantage of the opportunity without her eyes on him to discretely finish untying his hakama to lower the top flap and assess the situation visually himself.

_Crap_…

Mentally grimacing at his poor choice of words, he immediately conceded that _that _would be a _much _worse situation than what he was currently facing. Thankfully, he'd only wet himself. Unfortunately, though, the front of his fundoshi was completely soaked through, and it was really starting to bother his nose.

"I don't think any less of you for this, just so you know." Kagome's voice suddenly rang out, and he quickly dropped the flap of his hakama back in place, glancing her way only to sag in relief at the sight of her still focusing on their campfire. She hadn't caught him glancing down at himself.

Keeping her eyes focused on their campfire's blaze she added after a moment, "This wasn't your fault, and actually I feel partially to blame because I should have realized this might happen. I guess I underestimated how long it would take for at least some of your sensation to come back, and for that I'm sorry."

Trying to scent her at her words, needing to know if she was being completely honest or if she was just telling him what he wanted to hear, he was more than a little disturbed as he suddenly realized he couldn't smell her properly over the stench of…other scents. Trying to take a deeper whiff only had him sneezing again. Having a sense of smell as powerful and sensitive as his was both a blessing and a curse.

Cringing a little at the sound of his sneeze though refusing to look his way, Kagome feared she'd lose the nerve to say what needed to be said if she met his eyes, instead remaining focused on their fire as she confessed, "Inuyasha, I…I love you, though I'm pretty sure you already knew that. I can understand your embarrassment, but it's hurting me inside to know you're hurting and that you won't let me help you."

Taking a deep breath herself, she closed her eyes, unable to fight off the sting of tears as she asked him, "Even if…if you don't feel the same way, is your pride truly so important to you that you'd rather suffer in silence then let someone who cares tend to you?"

He was completely stunned by her words, never having figured something like _this _would hurt her so much. Her confession of love touched his heart, and he couldn't just leave her in pain after that, allowing her to believe her feelings weren't returned.

"I-it ain't about that." he managed to speak up, his face so hot he thought the tree he was leaning against might catch on fire at any moment. "It's not that I don't…feel that way, and it's not that I don't want your help, either. This is just fucking embarrassing!" he confessed, raising his voice a little.

She looked his way then, surprised by his roundabout admittance of returning her feelings. Though she'd suspected his feelings for her went deeper than friendship, especially after the kiss she _knew _he'd returned before later brushing it off as if he hadn't had a choice in the matter, she had never really thought he'd ever admit to his feelings out loud. She smiled a little then, her eyes drifting over the locket he still wore as it sparkled in the firelight.

Inuyasha was caught off guard as she turned her eyes his way, not having realized she'd been crying, as he could now clearly make out the two stripes of tear tracks that traveled down her cheeks. Just how useless _was _his nose at the moment if he couldn't even detect a smell he knew and hated so well? Just what else wasn't he smelling besides Kagome's tears? He sighed audibly, breathing in through his mouth. Kagome was their only line of defense while he was down for the count; he was relying on her arrows to protect them in the event of a youkai attack, but _she _was relying on _his_ sense of smell to alert her to any such pending attack so that she would have time to prepare herself, since her reflexes weren't as fine-tuned as someone who'd grown up a warrior in his time period. Sure, he also had superior hearing, but scent was by far his greatest sense, especially in the case of a predator stealthfully trying to creep up on them. Unless an approaching youkai happened to be in possession of a jewel shard, which he _really _hoped wouldn't happen while he couldn't protect Kagome properly, Inuyasha knew it was up to him and his nose to alert them to any possible threats in the area, and he couldn't do _that _if all he could smell was his own piss.

_Fucking hells_…

Her words about his pride being more important to him than wanting her help echoed loudly in his ears, as he recalled his own earlier thoughts about refusing to feel humiliated if their rescue depended on the others finding them, because Kagome's safety was more important than his pride. If given the choice between his pride and doing what was best for Kagome…hadn't he thought earlier that the answer to that was obvious? Then how was refusing to allow her to aid him in this what was best for Kagome? On the one hand she wanted to tend to him anyway, because she loved him, and it had hurt her feelings when he'd refused, figuring that his own pride was more important to him than her feelings for him. She hadn't even made the connection of his nose being crippled because of what'd happened. If she had, surely she would've thrown that in his face as well. There was a time and a place to watch what was said to spare someone's feelings, but this was not one of those times, not while the two of them were alone in the woods with him unable to fight and her jewel shards posing the continual threat of possibly luring any number of beasts to their location at any given moment. He would not only expect her to bring up the logistics of his incapacitated sense of smell, if she had thought of it, he would _want_ her to. How _dare_ he allow embarrassment to stop him from going through with what was needed to ensure he could detect the approach of potential threats?

He sighed again, his eyes softening ever so slightly.

"Okay…" he murmured suddenly, causing Kagome's eyes to widen in surprise. "I can't…I can't smell things right with that stench right under my nose. But it's only 'cause it's _you _that I'll let you. You are the _only_ one who's more important to me than my pride."

Kagome felt her heart soar at his words, at the deep meaning of them. Coming from Inuyasha, that was as if he had gotten down on one knee and professed his undying love. Of course, she couldn't miss the way he'd emphasized 'only', and she knew he wasn't just referring to Sango and Miroku in the unspoken reference to other people he knew. For a split second she wanted to squeal like the schoolgirl she was to realize the boy she loved loved her back, but then the first part of what he'd said sunk in, about him not being able to smell things properly at the moment, and she quickly got her fluttering heartbeat back under control. This was serious, after all; she was immediately back in nurse mode. Having been unaware of the logistics behind his sense of smell being compromised, she had only been thinking of wanting to help him from a place of compassion. She'd figured that even though in the long run it wouldn't _really _hurt anything to just leave him be, it was the principle of the thing. She loved him, and she wanted to care for him, in whatever capacity he needed her to, and that was all there was to it. Now, though, to realize there was an even more important reason to take care of what needed to be done, she refused to allow her emotions to distract her. That he was willing to let her clean him up, for whatever reason, really meant a lot to her, more than he probably even realized, but she would feel in awe of it later, after she was done and his sense of smell had been restored.

Nodding her head in determination, then, Kagome offered him a soft, reassuring smile as she scooted herself closer to his position, kneeling right beside him.

"Here…" he said then, handing her the tattered remains of his kosode, the regular cotton robe still just as torn up as it'd been hours earlier while his fire-rat suikan was nearly whole. "This ain't no good anymore, anyways, so may as well get some use out of it."

Nodding her understanding, Kagome took the offered robe and reached for her backpack, dragging it over to their position before reaching inside for the small plastic pouch that contained her emergency sewing kit. Grabbing the miniature scissors, she painstakingly worked on cutting a usable strip of cloth from the robe, utilizing the back of the sleeves and the shoulders that connected them to gain a length of cotton that would function well enough as a replacement fundoshi until his actual fundoshi could be laundered. Grabbing a couple of washrags from her bag, next, she then reached for the bottle of water she'd sat aside by the aspirin before giving Inuyasha a look that told him she was ready whenever he was.

Sighing again, and unable to ignore the heat in his cheeks, Inuyasha was nearly tempted to change his mind before another sneeze took him by surprise, the acidic stench wafting upward from his lap burning the hairs in his nose. Setting Tetsusaiga aside, then, he reached for his legs with his hands and uncrossed them. They felt leaden and rubbery, but at least he could kinda sorta feel them a little bit, uncomfortable pinprick tingles shooting through his legs as his heels thumped to the dirt.

_Great, what a time to start getting feeling back_… he grumbled, knowing what was about to happen. _Should I tell her? Will __she__ change her mind?_

Experimenting with wiggling his toes revealed that he still had no control over his lower extremities; hopefully he had no control over all _three _of his lower extremities.

"Ka-Kagome…" he started, clearing his throat awkwardly as his blush rose in intensity. "J-just so you know, I…uh…I just noticed from unfolding my legs that they're kinda tingly. I still can't move 'em, but I guess some of those 'nerves' of yours are starting to reconnect."

"That's wonderful news." Kagome replied with a warm smile, reaching for his hakama.

He reached forward and stopped her hand with his own.

"Yeah, so uh…" Clearing his throat again, he plowed forward. "Just…just in case…I _feel _something, I just want you to know I won't misunderstand. This ain't about that, I know that."

It was Kagome's turn to blush darkly as the meaning behind his words sank in, but swallowing thickly, Kagome knew she couldn't leave Inuyasha sitting in misery, _especially _if he was starting to get his feeling back, and of course the bottom line was still his sense of smell being clouded over. They had to do this, no matter what.

"I understand." she told him quietly then, offering him another smile before once again reaching for the top flap of his hakama. He didn't stop her that time, and since the tie was already undone she was immediately able to pull the flap down, exposing his soaked fundoshi.

_I can't really do this with him sitting up against a tree_… Kagome realized quickly.

"Um, can I help you lie down first? This is going to be harder than it needs to be with you sitting up like this."

"Whatever…" he grumbled just barely at her hearing level, refusing to meet her eyes for the moment though she knew it was just because he was embarrassed; he wasn't angry with her.

Gently, carefully, Kagome maneuvered Inuyasha so that he was lying on his back. He hissed in pain for a split second, which had her scrambling to apologize, but propping himself up on his elbows he immediately brushed off her concern, reminding her that pain was a good thing because it meant he was healing.

"I'll check your wounds and change your bandages after this." Kagome stated then, before reaching for his fundoshi.

It took her a second to figure out how to untie it, but after that it didn't take too long for Kagome to unwrap and remove the soiled strip of fabric from his body. She felt like her face was going to catch on fire as she took her dampened washcloth and began wiping him off, but true to form she was professional in her work, and as Inuyasha studied her actions, his own face burning just as hotly, he found that despite himself he was actually impressed with her nurturing skills. As immature as he knew _both_ of them could be at times when it came to such things, she was handling herself like a true healer, neither afraid to touch him so intimately nor tempted to take advantage of the situation; like he could really offer her much in the way of that kind of _situation _right now anyway with his limp noodle remaining unresponsive to her tentative ministrations. Thank the _gods _his body was unresponsive in that way. That would have been the final straw on the embarrassment scale.

Of course, he knew he could have insisted on taking the towel from her hand to clean himself off, himself, but at that point in time, with already needing her aid to remove his fundoshi, he hadn't figured that it really mattered all that much any more. Of course, that wasn't to say that he was just going to lie flat on his back and stare up at the sky while she tended to him like an infant; he _had _to watch, both from a place of needing reassurance that she was behaving herself, as well as from a naughtier place of simply wanting to watch her touch him. He couldn't decide if he was relieved or disappointed that he had no sensation down there, though of course if he could feel her hands upon him then he surely would've started to react, and confessions of love aside, he wasn't so sure he wanted to know what Kagome's reaction would've been to something like _that_.

Of course, he knew what her reaction was to touching his flaccid flesh. He could easily smell the overlay of arousal in her scent, now that the stench of urine was no longer right under his nose, and he was honestly more turned on than disturbed by that fact. If he'd started to get hard she probably would have only gotten even more aroused, and then instead of his own urine clouding his nose it would've been her delicious aroma hovering around him that would've prevented him from smelling anything else. Some other time, perhaps, but not right now. It really was important that his sense of smell remain unhindered. Fortunately, though, despite her innermost feelings on the matter, Kagome still remained completely professional in her behavior, cleaning and drying his sensitive skin without pausing even once in her work for an inappropriate touch, and for that he was grateful. Some other time, when they weren't in danger, he wouldn't mind it if she wanted to touch him inappropriately, but he'd wait until after he was healed and they were on their way again to share _that_ bit of news with her.

Kagome could feel his eyes upon her, but refusing to look up to meet his gaze as she tended to him, she did her best to maintain an air of professionalism despite the fact that deep down inside a million butterflies were trying to break free from her stomach, while her panties were on their way to needing to be changed as well, though for a different reason. Now wasn't the time to be thinking of such things, she mentally berated herself, especially since she was positive Inuyasha could smell her reaction to him, which sadistically only made her that much more aroused. She needed to keep her mind focused on other things.

"Hopefully you don't have anything left in your bladder right now." Kagome murmured then, half to him, half to herself as she put her washcloths aside and reached for his makeshift fundoshi.

He was relieved when she spoke, latching onto that subject as a means of distracting himself from his previous line of thought.

"I can't tell." he told her honestly then. "I don't think so, but I hadn't realized how bad it was before. I'd felt it a little bit but had thought I could hold it easy enough."

Nodding her understanding, Kagome hesitantly met his eyes for a second, commenting quietly, "I…I can try something real quick, if you don't mind. Just in case."

Unsure what she had in mind but also knowing that by that point nothing really mattered any more, he muttered another "Whatever…" that was noticeably less clipped than the last time.

His eyes widened in shock to see Kagome wrap her hand completely around his… Immediately yanking his mind back out of the gutter, he quickly realized that Kagome was merely aiming him, holding him in her left hand and pointing him towards his right as she used her right hand to gently yet firmly start pressing down on his bladder. He could feel it when she did that, grunting a little under his breath as it suddenly felt like he had to pee again. She kept at it, and low and behold, a small stream came out after a few moments, which landed on the soiled fundoshi that she had placed beside him before beginning her procedure to catch it. After deciding that he was completely empty Kagome wiped him off again with her washrag before packing up his dirty loincloth in the plastic trash bag she kept in her backpack for dirty laundry. She then quickly set about wrapping him up in his new, temporary fundoshi, at least to the best of her ability.

"I'm afraid I don't really know how to wrap these things properly." she muttered as she worked. Inuyasha surprised her then by giving her instructions, and in no time Kagome had him wrapped up properly, his hakama retied and back in place.

Keeping her word, she quickly went about checking and changing his bandages, then, after first disinfecting her hands, and she was relieved to see how much better his back looked. Before, he had seriously looked like he'd been mutilated by a powerful youkai, which he had been. It had been the kind of display that Halloween nuts paid good money for, to have the appearance reproduced in high quality foam latex. It almost hadn't even looked real, it'd been so gory, like something you would see in a horror movie, except that with their mission, with her travels all across the country, it was unfortunately a sight she'd seen in real life on more than one occasion. She was tremendously relieved that Inuyasha's back looked so much better now, no exposed bones or shredded muscles. The top layer of skin was still missing across the entire area, and as she carefully wiped away the dried blood she saw what she was sure was actual muscle tissue underneath in places instead of merely an inner layer of skin, but all things considered she knew he was healing remarkably fast. Even after his nerves finished reconnecting she was sure it would still take awhile for the bones themselves to finish knitting, he probably still wouldn't be able to walk for a while, but thankfully it looked like he was at least on his way to regaining full sensation. She hadn't missed the way he'd grunted when she'd pressed down on his bladder. She wondered if he had in fact felt it when she'd… Well, she wasn't going to ask.

Helping him prop himself back up against his chosen tree after changing his bandages, Kagome was surprised by the yawn that suddenly escaped her, the little blast of adrenaline she'd felt in the face of Inuyasha needing her having left her feeling even more tired than before. Now that she'd seen how well his back was doing, hopefully she could get some sleep without another nightmare invading her dreams.

Taking a deep breath through his nose, Inuyasha nodded his head in satisfaction that the area was still safe. "S'okay if you want to go back to sleep." he told her quietly. "I won't let nothin' sneak up on us."

Offering him a grateful smile, Kagome added a few more pieces of wood to their fire before crawling back into her bedroll. "Goodnight, dog-boy."

Smiling lopsidedly, he shook his head before replying with, "Night, wench."

It seemed like no time at all before Kagome was asleep again, and running the last few minutes over and over again in his mind, he couldn't believe he had actually let Kagome touch him _there_, and for a reason that wasn't even sexual! Of course, it had never before even crossed his mind in passing that he could ever conceivably become injured or otherwise incapacitated to the point where Kagome would be required to give him such intimate care, but now that such a thing had already come to pass, he found that looking back on it, he wasn't as bothered by it as he'd thought he would be. Instead, he actually found himself falling that much more in love with the girl, to know that she could care for him so intimately solely from a place of love, without either getting skittish or turning perverted. Kagome was always doing that sort of thing, ignoring her emotions in the heat of the moment to plow through whatever needed to be done regardless of how she felt about it deep down inside. True, she was only human, and he would never forget the scent of her arousal as she touched him, but he'd already known that she was attracted to him in that way, and well…didn't loving someone include having 'those' types of feelings? He wasn't disturbed to know that she had gotten aroused in her care of him, and he would let her know as much tomorrow by not being a total dick to her. So long as it was just the two of them, alone, he supposed it wouldn't hurt anything to…maybe not _lower _his wall…but at least crack a window and let her get a glimpse inside.

Watching over her as night stretched on into the early hours of pre-dawn morning, Inuyasha was suddenly pulled from his peaceful vigil by a foul stench on the breeze, and not his own. Something was out there.

"Kagome!" he rushed out in a strained whisper/yell.

Instantly bolting awake at the sound of her name uttered in such a way, Kagome was by Inuyasha's side in an instant, about to ask him what was wrong when his gesture of a finger over his lips instantly stilled her tongue. She watched with bated breath as he took several long sniffs of the air, his ears swiveling madly. Concentrating, she honed her own senses and realized with dread that she could in fact detect a demonic aura besides her companion's, and it seemed to be getting closer, though she couldn't tell for certain in which direction it lied.

Scrambling back over to her bedroll she quickly picked up her bow and arrow, standing guard over Inuyasha's immobile body. Closing his eyes, the hanyou concentrated, tuning everything else out, and as a light breeze danced through the trees, his eyes quickly snapped back open, their enemy identified.

"That direction!" he pointed confidently. "Badger-youkai."

Adjusting her stance to peer deep into the shadowy forest in the direction he'd indicated, she told him after a moment, "It doesn't have a jewel shard."

"Thank kami…" he muttered more to himself, though Kagome easily heard him from her position standing almost directly over him. The old him would have been offended at her gesture of protection, but as it was he was only scared for her, which was a feeling he knew wouldn't go away until the badger-youkai was dispatched. Fortunately, it was a rather weak youkai, undoubtedly drawn to their shards, and since it didn't already have a shard of its own he was fairly confident it was something that Kagome could fell with her arrow, so long as it wasn't able to sneak up on her.

Hearing a crunch in the underbrush too quiet for her ears he focused his nose in that direction, relieved to realize the thing was apparently too stupid to realize they were on to it. Like an animal it was approaching at the feel of something tempting, functioning on the most basic of instincts. Straining his eyes, Inuyasha's superior vision caught sight of it crawling through the trees before Kagome's human eyes had a chance to focus on anything more than a blob of shadow moving among the shadows, and chancing a glance overhead to nod in approval of the direction in which she had her weapon aimed from his earlier instruction, he concentrated on the scent of its youki, using that as his primary guide.

Suddenly, its youki changed, and he quickly commanded, "Now, shoot!"

Trusting her life on his instruction Kagome immediately fired, just as the badger-youkai started to charge them. She caught sight of its appearance clearly as it lunged itself out of the tree line in their direction mere milliseconds before her arrow struck, obliterating the weak youkai into nothingness.

Collapsing to her knees beside the _very _relieved hanyou, Kagome took a moment to catch her breath, her heart pounding wildly in her chest.

Inuyasha was having a mini panic attack of his own, realizing with horror that had he refused to allow Kagome to tend to him last night she could have very easily been injured, or worse, if they hadn't sensed that youkai's approach quickly enough. He didn't give a damn about what happened to himself, but he _had _to keep Kagome safe, no matter what, even if the only thing he could do was help her be better prepared to defend herself, as much as he hated it.

Suddenly, the miko let out a startled squeak of surprise as Inuyasha unexpectedly wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his lap.

"Inuyasha?" she questioned, meeting his stricken gaze with confusion and concern in her own.

He answered her unasked question by leaning over her slightly, planting a brief, chaste kiss to her lips. "I hate that I can't fucking protect you properly right now." he confessed quietly, shocking her even more than his unexpected kiss had when he added, "But I know you're not defenseless, and I'm proud of how strong you've become."

Needing to lighten the mood because the sudden emotions of the moment were far too intense for her liking, Kagome muttered playfully, "Okay, who are you and what have you done with my Inuyasha?"

He chuckled a little, giving her another peck of a kiss before letting her go.

"I ain't gonna be all mushy like this in front of the others, so you better savor it while you can." he teased back.

Kagome opened her mouth to utter another comeback of her own, but her retort was quickly interrupted by a loud rumbling that came from further down, and sighing again, Inuyasha instructed forcefully, "Eat, Kagome. I ain't having you gettin' all weak on my ass when I need you and your arrows to protect me."

The simple fact that he had acknowledged his need for her protection was more than enough to get Kagome to comply, as she worked on building their campfire back up before setting a small pot of water on to boil. She felt horrible about the idea of eating ramen in front of him, and would have eaten something else, anything else, if she'd had even so much as a granola bar, but all she had in her bag at the moment was cup noodle. She didn't know the first thing about hunting and Inuyasha was clearly in no position to fetch her something to eat from the forest, so she had no choice but to eat his favorite 'Ninja food' in front of him. Surprisingly, though, Inuyasha only smiled as he watched her eat it, as though he derived his own satisfaction solely from the knowledge that she was no longer starving herself. Getting a rather wicked idea after she was finished with her breakfast, Kagome crawled back over to where he sat and pulled his head forward into a passionate kiss, letting him taste the beef flavored seasoning on her tongue.

Wrapping his arms around her, he rumbled hungrily into the kiss, though his hunger wasn't for ramen.

"Damn, wench…" he panted after she pulled back. "Remind me to get injured more often." he teased with a lopsided grin that had her laughing outright. "Although…" he added brazenly after a moment, "I would prefer it if the next time you removed my fundoshi I wasn't too numb to enjoy it."

She gasped at his words, her arousal immediately roaring back to life, which he quickly teased her about, tapping his nose while waggling his eyebrows. She blushed but to her credit not one single hint of shame leaked into her scent. She wasn't ashamed of her feelings for Inuyasha, and she was exhilarated to learn that he felt the same way.

As the early morning hours traveled on into mid and then late morning, the couple spent the time talking about their relationship, where they should go from there, how much they truly meant to each other, and what each of them wanted for the future. They still had a long ways to go when it came to their mission, of needing to complete and purify the Sacred Jewel, of needing to find Naraku, wherever that bastard had gone off to in hiding, and riding the world of his evil once and for all, and so it was quickly decided that the most responsible thing to do would be to put their relationship on hold for the time being, especially since he also still had unresolved issues with Kikyou. While Inuyasha assured Kagome in that moment that he no longer felt _that _way about his former love, Kagome wasn't so cruel as to ask him to cut off all ties with the undead miko completely. He still cared for Kikyou, and Kagome understood that, and it was from a place of duty and honor that he _had _to protect Kikyou from Naraku, and Kagome understood that, too. No longer did Inuyasha have any plans of joining Kikyou in Hell, even the undead miko herself no longer wished to punish him for what she now understood had not been his doing, and so Kagome could wait until the timing was better for her and Inuyasha to openly express their emotions in front of the others.

They spent the rest of the day talking about less serious topics, intermixed with Kagome trying to help Inuyasha with some mild physical therapy. Slowly but surely the feeling came back into his legs…and _other _areas…but nothing inappropriate ended up happening as she rubbed and massaged his legs, offering her assistance as he gently pushed back against her hands with his feet, testing his newly acquired mobility. He still couldn't walk around too much. Attempting to get up had resulted in a horrible stab of pain that traveled up through his spine, and finally, around late evening of their second day stuck in the woods, Inuyasha relented and allowed Kagome to give him a few of her pain pills.

No longer feeling numb, and being much more able to crawl around on his own, Kagome finally relented in turn and let Inuyasha eat dinner that night, as they each had a cup of ramen before going to bed. So far nothing else had been attracted to her jewel shards, and for that they were both grateful, as Kagome settled down for the night while Inuyasha once again remained wide awake all night, on guard for possible predators.

Nothing snuck up on him during the night, not even the sensation that had been steadily building in his bladder as the water from the ramen as well as taking the aspirin had him needing to pee again come morning. This time, he would not have an accident on himself like a fucking invalid. Trying to get up by himself proved to be more difficult than it was worth, though, and quickly swallowing his pride, he realized he didn't really mind the idea of asking for help from the woman he loved.

"Oi, Kagome…"

Rousing less dramatically than the previous morning at his more casual tone, the miko cracked her eyes open to gaze his way curiously.

"What is it, Inuyasha?"

"Can ya help me…" He waved his hand around in a circle, "…Ya know…" he muttered through a horrible blush.

Eyes widening in instant understanding, Kagome scrambled over to his side, quickly helping him to stand, which wasn't as painful for him so long as he rested most of his weight on her. Leaning his left side fully against Kagome, he hobbled along with her for a moment until they were far enough away from camp that the smell wouldn't bother him, and then fiddling with his hakama with his right hand, twisting the baggy pants around until the opening at the side was at the front, he reached inside and quickly yanked the front flap of his fundoshi off to the side as well, grabbing himself and relieving himself all while still leaning on Kagome for support. The miko politely kept her eyes averted, and remaining silent, she waited until he muttered that he was finished to turn back around and help him hobble back towards camp. Leaving him be for a moment, Kagome quickly excused herself in the opposite direction, and then after returning and sterilizing her hands she quickly set about changing his bandages once more. Or rather, that was _removing _his bandages, since upon unwrapping them she quickly discovered that the surface wounds were completely healed. All that was left now was his spine, which was clearly knitted at least part way though it wasn't healed entirely or else he wouldn't be in any pain when he walked.

Dressing in his suikan, which was also completely repaired by that point, they opted to stay where they were for one more night before attempting to gradually make their way back to Kaede's on their own. They couldn't stay put forever, after all; Kagome only had so much water on her, and they were nowhere near a freshwater stream. Fortunately, though, when they both picked up the rapid approach of a demonic aura later that afternoon, one whiff from Inuyasha assured Kagome that _this _approaching youkai was one they would both be happy to see.

Their friends descended from the sky upon Kirara less than a minute later, and after telling them an edited version of what'd taken place that made it sound more like Inuyasha had merely been too injured to continue on from the pain and her own insistence that he should rest, not that he _couldn't _move because his spine had been severed, the entire inu-tachi together made the slow trek back to Kaede's on foot with Inuyasha riding a transformed Kirara who walked steadily alongside her human companions. Sniffing out a source of fresh water, they setup camp that night in a clearing by a small river that contained fish, and Kirara did the honors of catching everyone's dinner. Kagome knew to be careful what she said in front of the others, not wanting to embarrass Inuyasha because she knew he had only allowed her to see his more tender side because they'd been alone, but still, she couldn't help sending him the occasional smile when she knew nobody else was paying any attention. Once, when he was _certain _no one else was looking, Inuyasha even returned her gesture.

They made it back to Kaede's the following day without incident, and with the promise that she wouldn't take any longer than absolutely necessary Kagome rushed back through the well to her own time. After quickly explaining to her mother how she had been delayed because Inuyasha had been hurt, Mrs. Higurashi gave her daughter a brief hug with a murmured blessing of thanks for she and Inuyasha being all right, and then she accompanied her daughter to the store so that Kagome could stock up on whatever supplies she needed to take back into the past with her. The following day Kagome went to school and proceeded to take, and fail, her makeup test, but she honestly couldn't be bothered by her failing grades all that much at that point. She'd had a long talk with her mother about it the previous day at the store; her place was in the past, with Inuyasha. Nodding sagely, the elder Higurashi woman had told her daughter merely that she trusted Kagome to make the right choice, knowing deep down in her heart that her daughter's destiny lied on the other side of time.

Meanwhile, on that other side of time, nobody else ever learned the true severity of Inuyasha's injuries, though they did question what had become of his kosode, to which he'd replied vaguely that it had been so damaged it was beyond repairing. Grumbling to himself, Inuyasha knew it would be a pain in the ass to try and acquire a new one. Hopefully he could trade a few catches of fresh meat for one at the next trading village their group passed through, since he didn't have any coins to his name.

He was surprised, and humbled, when upon her return a couple of days later Kagome presented him with a brand new kosode from her time, bought in a store that sold traditional garments. It was nearly identical to his old one, aside from a strange little tag at the neck with weird symbols on it that Kagome brushed off in explanation as being the wash instructions. Like his old one, this robe was 100% cotton, and the feel of it was comfortable against his skin, at least after she cut that stupid little tag off for him. Having taken the under robe and left for a spot of privacy to get dressed, Inuyasha grinned to himself when he discovered that shoved within one of its sleeves was his fundoshi, freshly washed. He returned from his spot within the trees a few moments later fully dressed, and feeling completely recovered by that point, no more lingering pain as he walked, the inu-tachi quickly agreed to get back out on the road again. They had shards to collect and an evil hanyou to kill.

_The sooner the better_… Inuyasha thought with a crooked smile as he glanced Kagome's way, his heart fluttering in his chest a bit as her knowing look reflected similar thoughts.

They _really _needed to hurry up and kill Naraku and complete the jewel.

~ Fin ~


End file.
